Martyn Dunne, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Australia and a former head of the Customs Service and senior military officer, has been named head of the Ministry for Primary Industries. Dunne will take up the three-year term on Nov 18, replacing Scott Gallacher, who has been acting director-general of MPI since the departure of former head Wayne McNee for a …

A second former director of Gisborne-based Rockforte Finance has pleaded guilty to Crimes Act charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office, while a third awaits trial. John Gardner pleaded guilty to five charges in the Gisborne High Court today, the Serious Fraud Office said in a statement. The charges relate to theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining …

Banks that lent unsustainable amounts of debt to state-owned coal miner Solid Energy are taking a $75 million “hair-cut”, dressed up as an issue of redeemable preference shares that may never be repaid. After eight months of negotiations between the Treasury and the group of Australasian and Japanese lenders to the troubled coal company, Finance and State-Owned Enterprises Ministers Bill …